Where wild carnivores such as the Australian dingo interact with and impact on livestock enterprises, lethal control and landscape-scale exclusion are commonly employed. However, interest in alternative non-lethal management approaches has recently increased. This is evidenced by several reviews of non-lethal methods that can be said to be working toward improved coexistence. Nevertheless, and despite centuries of conflict, our non-lethal human-wildlife coexistence toolkit remains remarkably deficient. Innovation and evaluation of non-lethal methods should be prioritised to ensure that the economic, ecological, cultural and intrinsic values of dingoes are retained, while minimising the economic and emotional costs of conflict with livestock producers. In this paper we summarise some of the practical tools that might be effective in relation to the dingo, particularly those yet to be formally investigated, and discuss some of the possible hurdles to implementation. We conclude by suggesting pathways for human-dingo coexistence, and the steps necessary for appropriately evaluating non-lethal tools.
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Research Article|
August 25 2020
Co-existing with dingoes: Challenges and solutions to implementing non-lethal management
Bradley P. Smith;
Bradley P. Smith
*
1 Smith Human-Wildlife coexistence Lab, Central Queensland University, Adelaide, SA 5034, Australia
* Corresponding author: School of Human Health and Social Sciences, Central Queensland University Australia (Adelaide Campus), 44 Greenhill Road, Wayville, South Australia, Australia, 5034. Email: b.p.smith@cqu.edu.au
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Robert G. Appleby;
Robert G. Appleby
1 Smith Human-Wildlife coexistence Lab, Central Queensland University, Adelaide, SA 5034, Australia
2 Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
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Neil R. Jordan
Neil R. Jordan
3 Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, NSW 2052, Australia
4 Taronga Institute of Science and Learning, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Taronga Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo, NSW 2830, Australia
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Australian Zoologist (2021) 41 (3): 491–510.
Citation
Bradley P. Smith, Robert G. Appleby, Neil R. Jordan; Co-existing with dingoes: Challenges and solutions to implementing non-lethal management. Australian Zoologist 28 October 2021; 41 (3): 491–510. doi: https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2020.024
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